Pogo stick



May 4, 1965 Filed Nov. 9, 1962 W. J. WHITE POGO STICK 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR WILLIAM JOHN WHITE ATTORNEY May 4, 1965 Filed Nov. 9, 1962 W. J. WHITE POGO STICK 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM JOHN WHITE ATTORNEY W. J. WHITE May 4, 1965 roeo STICK 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 9, 1962 INVENTOR WILLIAM JOHN WHITE 7 ATTORNEY W. J. WHITE POGO STICK May 4, 1965 5 She6ts-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. ,9, 1962 IO N m H W N m M M M W ATTORNEY y 4, 1965 w. J. WHITE 3,181,862

POGO STICK Filed Nov. 9, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 5 arm I aku I 23 H l5 3 INVENTOR WILLIAM JOHN WHITE United States Patent 3,181,862 POGO STICK William John White, 991 S. State Road 7, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Filed Nov. 9, 1962, Ser. No. 236,507 13 Claims. (Cl. 27257) This invention relates to a pogo stick having automatic progressive height control and it consists in the combinations, constructions and arrangements of parts herein described and claimed.

Generally there is provided a vertically disposed lower ground-engaging tube having a series of apertures along one side defining a gear rack, and a second or upper tube telescopically and reciprocatingly embracing and extending above the upper portion of the lower tube. A transverse bar is fixed medially thereof to the lower end of the upper tube. A horizontal treadle bar having foot rests at the ends thereof has fixed centrally thereto a vertical axis guide sleeve reciprocatingly embracing the lower tube. The transverse bar and the treadle bar are rigidly interconnected by a pair of parallel vertical rods to define a rectangular frame within which is mounted a novel mechanism automatically raised or lowered progressively in steps by the jumping cycles of use.

The progressive mechanism comprises a pair of superposed horizontally disposed assemblies interconnected for limited vertical separation during each jump cycle. Both assemblies span and embrace the rectangular frame and the lower ground engaging tube located centrally within the frame. Both assemblies have fixed therein three parallel vertically disposed sleeves which guide the assemblies in their progressive movements up and down the lower tube and which guide the rectangular frame in its reciprocation.

The upper assembly carries a sprocket the teeth of which mesh with the rack teeth formed in the lower tube. A spring actuated pawl permits step-by-step turning of the sprocket by a pivoted dog mounted in the lower assembly and operating at the end of each up stroke of the frame. The pawl prevents reverse rotation of the sprocket during the progressive elevating cycles of operation of the pogo stick.

There is also provided a remote control device, having a manual operator therefor mounted on the upper tube, for altering the operations of the dog and pawl to provide progressive step-by-step downward movement of the assemblies. The mechanism for this reverse operation will be described in detail below. There is further provided a simple arrangement for disabling the progressive movement mechanism to convert the pogo stick to a conventional type for use by a beginner or by a user not desiring to employ the progressive treadle raising and lowering mode of operation.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a pogo stick having automatically operated mechanism for progressively raising or lowering the treadle bar during a series of jumps.

it is another object of the invention to provide a device of the character described having a manual control for switching from ascending to descending operation and vice versa.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a pogo stick of the type disclosed having simple easily removable and replaceable means for locking out the automatic raising and lowering mechanism.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a device of the character described having special mechanism for safely lowering the treadle if elevated at the conclusion of a series of jumps.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device 3,181,852 Patented May 4, 1965 ice of the character set forth which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and yet effective and efiicient in use. 7

Gther and further objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred embodilent of the invention, 7

FIGURE 2 is a rear elevational view of the device of FIGURE 1, A

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the showing of FIG- URE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the pogo stick of FIGURE I viewed from, the right side of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged plan view, in section, taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational View of the raising and lowering mechanism of FIG- URE 1, i 7

FIGURE 7 is a plan view, in section, taken on line '7 of FIGURE 5,

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 but showing a different phase in a jump cycle,

EGURE 9 is a front elevational view of the pogo stick in fully elevated position, in section, taken on line 99 of FIGURE 3,

FIGURE 10 is an elevational' view similar to FIGURE 6 but with the face plates removed, showing the mechanism set for treadle raising,

FIGURE 11 is a View similar to FIGURE 10 showing the mechanism set for treadle lowering,

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary side elevational view, in section, taken on line 1212 of FIGURE 10.

FiGURE 13 is an enlarged fragmentary rear elevational view of the treadle portion of FIGURE 2 FIGURE 14 is a plan view, in section, taken on line 14-14 of FIGURE 10,

FIGURE 15 is a fragmentary side elevational view, in section, taken on line 1515 of FIGURE 11, and

FIGURE 16 is a fragmentary side elevational View, in section, taken on line 1616 of FIGURE 6.

With reference now to the drawings, the numeral 20 generally designates the pogo stick as a unit. The pogo stick 211 comprises basically a lower ground engaging tube 21, an upper tube 22 telescopically slidable up and down over the upper portion of said lower tube 21, a treadle 23 connected by a frame hereinafter described to the upper tube, a coiled compression spring 24 surrounding said lower tube and acting to separate said tubes on the rebound phase of each jump cycle, and mechanism generally designated 25 serving as a variable elevation stop for the lower end of said spring. The mechanism '25 is automatically, progressively and slidably movable vertically over the lower tube 21, as will be hereinafter described.

The lower end of the lower tube 21 is desirably capped by a frictionally coupled rubber cu p 2d, which will prevent the tube end from slipping on and/ or damaging a floor or like surface and will also diminish noise and mechanical shock to the parts of the pogo stick. The upper end of the upper tube is likewise desirably capped by a press fitted decorative and protective cap. 27 of rubber or equivalent material. A handle 2-8 is formed by a single tube, or a pair of axially aligned tubes 29 welded to opposite sides of the upper tube 22. The handle 28 is capped at its ends by slip-on hand grips 36 of rubber or plastic material. v V

The treadle 23 comprises a horizontally disposed bar 31 to the ends of which is welded or otherwise attached a pair of foot rests 32. A vertically bored guide sleeve 33 is welded to or formed integrally with the center of the treadle bar 31. The treadle bar 31 is further provided with a pair of bilaterally symmetrically located vertical axis sleeves 34 welded thereto or cast integrally therewith to serve as sockets for receiving the lower ends of a pair of vertically disposed parallel frame rods 35. The lower ends of rods 35 are anchored in said sockets in any conventional manner, as by pins 36 (FIGURE The upper ends of the frame rods 35 are received and fixed in sockets formed in the ends of a horizontally disposed yoke bar 37. The yoke bar 37 is centrally enlarged at 38 and is vertically bored to snugly receive therein the lower end of the upper tube 22, which is welded or otherwise fixed therein.

The enlarged portion or hub 38 of the yoke 37 rests on the upper end of the coil spring 24 thus bouncingly supporting the treadle 23 thereon through the parallel frame rods 35. The lower end of the spring 24 is supported at automatically and progressively raised or lowered positions on the lower tube 21 by the novel mechanism generally designated 25 next to be described.

The progressive raising and lowering mechanism 25 comprises a pair of superposed assemblies generally designated 25a and 25b. The upper assembly 25a comprises a horizontally elongated vertically disposed base plate 39 having enlarged end portions 40 forwardly offset and vertical bored to slidably receive and guide the vertical frame rods 35 during their up and down strokes of jumping cycles. A front cover plate 41 bridges the space between the end portions 4%? and is attached thereto by screws 41'. The parts 39, 4t and 41 define a housing and mounting structure for the mechanism of the assembly 25a.

Mounted on and between the base plate 39 and the cover plate 41 is a horizontal shaft 42. The shaft 42 rotatably supports a sprocket 43 the teeth of which mesh with a vertical row of apertures 44 formed in the lower tube 21 and defining a rack up and down which the sprocket 43 progressively travels. The upper end of the rack terminates in a vertical slot 45 (FIGURE 11) which limits the upward travel of the sprocket 43 by permitting its free turning in said slot. A laterally open sleeve 39 integrally formed on or fixed to the plate 39 embraces and guides the tube 21.

A pawl 46, mounted on a shaft 47, engages behind the teeth of the sprocket 43 to prevent its clockwise rotation (except as hereinafter described). A tension coil spring 48 stretched between a post 49 on the pawl 46 and a post 56 fixed to the plate 39 yieldably urges the pawl 46 into engagement with the teeth of the sprocket 43.

The lower assembly 25b of the progressive mechanism comprises a base plate 52 similar to the base plate 3? and has similar vertically bored enlarged end portions 52 which slidably receive the vertical frame rods 35. A cover plate 53 (like plate 41) completes a housing and mounting structure for the mechanism of the lower assembly 25b. The cover plate 53 is removably attached to the enlarged portions 52 of the plate 51 by screws 53'.

A vertically disposed dog 54 is mounted and fixed to a horizontal shaft 55 journaled in aligned bearing apertures in the plates 51 and 53. Spacing washers 55 align the dog 54 with the sprocket 43. A tension coil spring 56 stretched between a pin 57 fixed to the dog 54 and a pin 58 anchored to the plate 51 normally urges the free end of the dog 54 toward the sprocket 43 so that its sprocket rotating finger 59 engages sequentially under successive teeth of the sprocket 43, as shown in FIG- URE 10. A stop block 69 for the dog 54 is welded to the base plate 51.

A step-by-step actuation of the sprocket 43 for upward travel thereof along the rack defined by the apertures 44, causes upward travel of the assembly 25 to which the sprocket is fixed by the shaft 42. This step-by-step actuation of the sprocket 43 by the dog 54- is eifected by cyclical separation of the assemblies and by a ($011 spring 61 at the beginning of each down stroke of the treadle 23 and by the return of the parts to their positions of FIGURE 10 at the end of each up stroke of the treadle to advance the sprocket 43 one tooth along the rack 44. Each cyclical separation of the assemblies 25a and 25b is limited to a distance equal to or only slightly greater than the spacing between sprocket teeth by a stop device (FIGURE 12) comprising a bolt 62 fixed to the plate 39 and passing vertically downwardly and freely through an apertured stop element 60 fixed to the plate 51. The lower threaded end of the bolt 62 has a nut as adjustably threaded thereon to vary somewhat the amount of relative movement between the assemblies 25a and 25b. The nut 64 is fixed in desired adjusted position on the bolt 62 by a set screw 64'. The spring 61 loosely surrounds the shank of the bolt 62. The head of the bolt 62 and the apertured stop element 63 are welded to mounting plates 65 and 66, respectively, which are fastened to the plates 39 and 51 by bolts and nuts collectively designated 67.

The mechanism for progressively lowering the assembly 25a comprises a hand lever 68 positioned beneath one of the hand grips 3i) and forms part of a conventional sheathed cable remote control device generally designated 69. When the lever 68 is squeezed by the users hand gripping the grip 3t thereabove, a cable 69 in a sheath 7%) of the device 69 is pulled to exert a pull on the free end of a lever 71. The other end of the lever 71 is fixed to one end of the pawl shaft 47, which is axially slidable in its journal apertures in the plates 3h and 41 (FIG- URE 14). The lower end of the sheath is anchored to the plate 41 by a conventional clamp 7 ti.

The pawl 46 is freely and oscillatingly rotatable on the shaft 47 but is held against appreciable axial displacement along said shaft by mating threads on the two parts. A bent metallic strip 72 is welded to theouter face of the plate 41 and angularly overlies the lever 71, as shown in FIGURES 6, 14 and 16, to serve as a cam forcing the lever away from said plate when the lever 71 is pulled upwardly by the hand lever 68. This outward movement of the lever 71 axially moves the pawl shaft 47 and thereby the pawl 46 away from the viewer in FIGURE 11 so that the pawl arm (which is normally cleared by an upper end 73 of the vertically reciprocating dog 54 as shown in FIGURE 10) is positioned over the end 73 of the dog 54 so as to be disengaged momentarily from the sprocket 43 at the upper end of each jump cycle. This allows the sprocket sufi'icient time to rotate clockwise an angular distance corresponding to a tooth thereof, thus lowering the assembly 2512 one tooth on the rack 44. Downward separation of the assemblies 25a and 25b at the beginning of each down stroke pulls the upper end of the dog 54 away from the pawl 46 allowing its wide head 46 to engage behind the next sprocket tooth to arrest the clockwise rotation of said sprocket (FIGURES l0 and 11).

When the lever 68 is pulled upwardly to swing the pawl controlling lever '71 upwardly, an extension 74 of the cable 69 of the remote control device 69 exerts a pull through a spring 75 on a lever '76 fixed to the end of the dog shaft 55. This rotates the dog 54 from its ascending position of FIGURE 10 to its descending position of FIGURE 11.

When it is desired to render inoperative the progressive mechanism for any reason (such as while a beginner is learning the use of the pogo stick) a bolt 76' is passed through aligned holes 77, 78 and 79 in the tube 21 and the plates 51 and 53, respectively, and held in such position by a wing nut 80.

If the user jumps or falls oil the pogo stick while the treadle is in an elevated position, the treadle and the progressive mechanism can be lowered to starting positions by manually engaging a pin 81 (FIGURE 13) fixed to the free end of the pawl and extending through an arcuate slot 81 in the base plate 39 beyond the exterior surface thereof. A slotted stop plate 82 adjustably clamped to the base plate 39 by a thumb screw 83 is then moved to hold the pawl 46 away from the sprocket 43. Next, the hand lever 63 is raised to pull the dog 54 away from the sprocket 43, which is then free to rotate clockwise (FIGURE 11) as downward pressure on handles 39 force mechanism 25 down to its lowermost or starting position, after which the thumb screw 83 is loosened and the stop 82 is restored to its normal or inoperative position of FIGURE 13.

While but one form of the invention has been shown and described herein, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many minor modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pogo stick comprising: a vertically disposed shaft having a series of tooth-like elements defining a rack therealong, a tubular member snugly telescopically slidable down over the upper portion of said shaft, a horizontally disposed treadle member mounted for vertical reciprocation on and along said shaft, said treadle member extending laterally from opposite sides of said shaft and having foot rest portions adjacent the ends thereof, a pair of parallel support rods extending npwa-rdlyfrom said treadle member on opposite sides of said shaft, a transverse member interconnecting the upper ends of said support rods, said transverse member being vertically slidably mounted medially thereof on said shaft and forming with said treadle member and support rods a rectangular frame, a compression spring surrounding said shaft and bearing at its upper end against a portion of said transverse member, progressively movable mechanism vertically movably mounted on said shaft and engaging under the lower end of said compression spring, toothed means fixed to said mechanism and engageable with said rack, and means automatically operated in response to vertical reciprocation of said treadle member for causing said toothed means to sequentially engage successive tooth-like elements of said rack, whereby said mechanism is caused to move along said shaft in successive steps correlated to jump cycles of said pogo stick.

2. Structure according to claim 1, said automatically operated means being normally arranged to effect progressive upward movement of said mechanism, said mechanism additionally comprising means operable to disable said progressively movable mechanism to permit its return to lowered starting position thereof.

3. Structure according to claim 2, said last-mentioned means comprising an operating device positioned for engagement by a hand of a user adjacent the upper end of said tubular member.

4. Structure according to claim 3 additionally comprising a horizontally disposed handle bar bilaterally symmetrically attached to the upper portion of said tubular member, said operating device including a hand lever pivoted to said handle bar and said means to disable the progressively movable mechanism further including a sheathed cable operatively coupled to said hand lever and to the progressively movable mechanism.

5. Structure according to claim 1 additionally comprising a horizontally disposed handle bar bilaterally symmetrically attached to the upper portion of said tubular member.

6. Structure according to claim 1, said progressively movable mechanism, said toothed means comprising a sprocket meshed with said rack, said means for causing said toothed means to engage such elements of said rack comprising a dog for tooth-by-tooth rotation of said sprocket, said progressively movable mechanism including a pawl positioned to engage said sprocket for automatically permitting upward-travel rotation of said sprocket by said dog and preventing reverse rotation thereof, and means movable by engagement with said treadle member when approaching the end of an up stroke thereof for actuating said dog to advance said sprocket a tooth distance along said rack.

7. Structure according to claim 6, said pawl being movable along its axis of rotation so as to be engageable by a portion of said dog at the top of its travel for momentary movement of said pawl out of engagement with said sprocket, means selectively operable to move said pawl axially into dog-engageable position, and manually and remotely controlled means for moving said dog out of sprocket advancing position, whereby said progressively movable mechanism can be selectively operated to lower the same in step-by-step manner.

8. Structure according to claim 7, said remotely controlled means having operating means extending from said progressively movable mechanism to a point adjacent the upper end of said tubular member.

9. Structure according to claim 7, said means for axially moving said pawl and said means for moving the dog away from said sprocket being interconnected for simultaneous operation by said remotely controlled means.

10. Structure according to claim 9 comprising additional means for moving said pawl to inoperative position and means for locking said pawl in said inoperative position whereby said progressively movable mechanism 7 can be fully restored to lowered starting position by a single operation of said remotely controlled means.

11. Structure according to claim 1, said progressively movable mechanism comprising a pair of superposed horizontally elongated members each having end located bearing sleeves engageable over said frame rods and a centrally located bearing sleeve embracing said shaft, said elongated members having means effecting limited yielding vertical separation thereof, said toothed means comprising a sprocket on the upper elongated member and meshed with said rack and said progressively movable mechanism further including a pawl on said upper elongated member normally preventing reverse rotation of said sprocket, said means for causing said toothed means to sequentially engage elements of said rack comprising a dog pivotally attached to the lower elongated member and engageable with said sprocket to advance the same, said lower elongated member being engageable by said treadle member at the upper end of each up stroke thereof to thereby move said dog and thereby said sprocket upwardly for a tooth distance along said rack.

12. Structure according to claim 1 additionally comprising means for locking said progressively movable mechanism to said shaft, whereby said pogo stick can be used as a conventional pogo stick.

13. Structure according to claim 12, said locking means being a bolt passing through aligned apertures in said shaft and said progressively movable mechanism.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 590,602 9/97 Thompson 254- 1,135,299 4/15 Larsen 254-95 1,854,473 4/ 32 Laborda 272-57 XR RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner. 

1. A POGO STICK COMPRISING: A VERTICALLY DISPOSED SHAFT HAVING A SERIES OF TOOTH-LIKE ELEMENTS DEFINING A RACK THEREALONG, A TUBULAR MEMBER SNUGLY TELESCOPICALLY SLIDABLE DOWN OVER THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID SHAFT, A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED TREADLE MEMBER MOUNTED FOR VERTICAL RECIPROCATION ON AND ALONG SAID SHAFT, SAID TREADLE MEMBER EXTENDING LATERALLY FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID SHAFT AND HAVING FOOT REST PORTIONS ADJACENT THE ENDS THEREOF, A PAIR OF PARALLEL SUPPORT RODS EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID TREADLE MEMBER ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID SHAFT, A TRANSVERSE MEMBER INTERCONNECTING THE UPPER ENDS OF SAID SUPPORT RODS, SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBER BEING VERTICALLY SLIDABLY MOUNTED MEDIALLY THEREOF ON SAID SHAFT AND FORMING WITH SAID TREADLE MEMBER AND SUPPORT RODS A RECTANGULAR FRAME, A COMPRESSION SPRING SURROUNDING SAID SHAFT AND BEARING AT ITS UPPER END AGAINST A PORTION OF SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBER, PROGRESSIVELY MOVABLE MECHANISM VERTICALLY MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT AND ENGAGING UNDER THE LOWER END OF SAID COMPRESSION SPRING, TOOTHED MEANS FIXED TO SAID MECHANISM AND ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID RACK, AND MEANS AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED IN RESPONSE TO VERTICAL RECIPROCATION OF SAID TREADLE MEMBER FOR CAUSING SAID TOOTHED MEANS TO SEQUENTIALLY ENGAGE SUCCESSIVE TOOTH-LIKE ELEMENTS OF SAID RACK, WHEREBY SAID MECHANISM IS CAUSED TO MOVE ALONG SAID SHAFT IN SUCCESSIVE STEPS CORRELATED TO JUMP CYCLES OF SAID POGO STICK. 